Scion of the Cat Demon Tribe
by sesshy-stalker-kendra
Summary: The story of the misplaced heir to the Northern Lands, Kendra Elaine Branford, who was raised in the Present Day by a human family.


Scion of the Cat Demon Tribe  
Chapter One

At the Beginning

The moonlight that streamed through the bedroom window bathed everything in the young girl's bedroom. Everything except the full size bed towards the northern wall where the 16-year-old girl lay, half asleep, listening to the sound of calming rain and the flaring temper downstairs. She sighed as she ran one hand through her dark sapphire blue tresses and rolled onto her side.  
Why won't they stop it... she thought to herself as she opened her eyes to stare up at her ceiling, now fully awake. Through the cloud of her exhaustion, she had been listening to the ongoing tirade that her father had started in on around six that evening. It had started out as just angry murmurings as he watched the evening news and it progressively grew until he blew up at her when her glass of water slipped out of her hand and shattered on the kitchen linoleum.  
He had hit her of course, as was to be expected and she had run upstairs to her room and hid in the closet. He followed her up there, being pursued by her mother Shira Branford, who was begging him to leave her alone. Her father had also slapped her mother, causing her to fall down the stairs. She had gotten the beating of her life when her father had arrived at her bedroom. It hurt like a mother to move, but she had learned by now to deal with it.

Soon she heard the angry tide of yelling cease and a loud thud echo through the house, followed by the slamming of a door. An eerie silence fell over the house and soon she heard her mother's soft voice.  
"Kendra? Kendra-chan? Can you come here please?" her mother said.

Kendra Branford rose from her bed and exited her bedroom; moving downstairs.

"Yes Momma?" Kendra replied as she rounded the corner into the living room.  
When she spotted her mother, Kendra emitted a painful gasp. Her mother was laying in a fetal position in front of the far wall of the living room, under a large dent in the wall. Her father had _thrown_ her before he had stormed out.  
"I'll be fine Kendra. But would you mind terribly going over and asking Hiroka Higurashi if she could please come over here...I...I wish to speak with her." her mother answered.  
Kendra nodded. "Of course I don't mind Momma. I'll be right back okay?" she said running out the door barefoot and in nothing but her lavender spaghetti strap and dark blue pajama bottoms. Thankfully the Higurashi Shrine wasn't too far away so the need for shoes wasn't too great. It took her no more than two minutes to run down the street, up the many steps to the Shrine and knock on the Higurashi's front door. By the time Kendra got there, she was soaking wet and cold. But she didn't notice this.

Hiroka's daughter Kagome Higurashi answered the door.

"Hello-? Kendra! What are you doing here? Is everything okay?" she asked franticly.

"Not really...my mother wants to speak to your mom." Kendra answered bitterly.

"Of course! Come in please!" Kagome replied, pulling her inside and calling for her mother.

Kendra looked around the entry way and sat down on the little bench there. She sighed, lowering her head, watching beads of water drip down off of her now wet and ropy sapphire hair. Hiroka soon came into the entry way and looked at Kendra.

"I am going to your mother now. Please feel free to stay here with Lily, Kagome and Grandpa." she said before she swept out of the house.  
White-blonde haired Lilian Higurashi walked into the room and looked at Kendra.

"Come on." she said turning away and going into the main room.

Kendra followed Lily and looked around.

"What did you want me to follow you for?" Kendra asked her.  
Lily turned her blood red orbs to lock with Kendra's tangerine ones.

"Hey if you want to stay in the hallway all night be my guest. I don't care either way." she answered coldly going up down the hallway to her bedroom and shutting the door.

Kagome came out of the kitchen (that's where she went after going to get her mother) carrying a mug of tea out to Kendra.

"Here Kendra. Drink this. Maybe it will help." Kagome said kindly.  
Kendra gratefully took it from her and smiled.

"Arigato Kagome." she said softly.

Kagome looked to where Lily had been not moments before and sighed sadly.

"Please don't mind Lily...she's just had a bad day." She explained.

Kendra nodded a bit. "Understandable."

"...Are your parents fighting again Kendra?" the raven haired girl asked.

"...Of course..." Kendra answered, "When are they not?"

Kagome nodded sadly. "True, true." she said sitting down next to her.

A few hours later, Hiroka came home looking worried. She walked into the living room and looked at the three girls (Lily had come down from her room earlier).

"Your mother said that if you want to stay here for the night and go to school with Lily and Kagome tomorrow that's alright with her." she said looking tired and worn.

"...Oh...okay. If you don't mind...I would like to stay here." Kendra said softly her head lowered.  
Hiroka smiled at Kendra.

"Of course I don't mind. I'll give her a call and let her know." she replied going over to the kitchen phone and calling Kendra's mother.  
Lily looked over at Kendra.

"Follow me...you can sleep in my room with me. You're also about my size so my uniform should fit you." she said gesturing for Kendra to follow her as she went up stairs.

Kendra blinked her expressive tangerine eyes a bit and followed Lily up to her room.  
Lily went to her closet and pulled out some fresh undergarments from her underwear drawer and tossed them to Kendra.

"You're soaked. Here change." she said also tossing a large over-sized tee-shirt at her.

Kendra looked at Lily uncertainly.

"...Can I change in the bathroom?" Kendra asked.

"...You're a girl aren't you? You don't have anything I haven't seen before." Lily replied.  
Kendra watched Lily uncertainly for a few minutes longer, before peeling her now damp clothes off of herself and pulled the bra and underwear on.

The bra was a bit roomy, but all in all it wasn't too bad. But it was the underwear that was a problem. They wouldn't fit, as they were too small. Blushing Kendra looked up and over at Lily.

"Uh..." She murmured embarrassedly.  
Lily looked up and choked back a laugh.

"You officially have a big ass Kendra." Lily chuckled.  
"Really? Now I couldn't figure that out by myself." Kendra said irritably.  
"Hey now...calm down Killer I was just messing." Lily protested her eyes growing slowly hostile.

Kendra sighed and pulled her damp underwear back on.

"No worries. I'm sorry for snapping...I'm just not really in the joking mood right now." Kendra apologized.

"That's fine. I understand." Lily replied, climbing into bed.

Kendra stood there for a moment before pulling the over-sized tee-shirt over her head and she looked at Lily.

"Where am I going to sleep?" she asked.

Lily turned over and looked a Kendra, sleep creeping into her crimson eyes.  
"Well here in bed with me of course." Lily replied a bit incredulously.

"Oh..." Kendra answered turning a bit pink.

For a moment Kendra just stood there staring at Lily, until Lily's eyes burned with an awake and annoyed look.

"Get in bed moron!" she growled.

Kendra started and walked around to the opposite side of the bed and climbed in under the cream colored comforter. Even though it was big enough for the two of them, Lily and Kendra were almost spooned together. Kendra couldn't really sleep and stayed up for maybe half an hour and soon she could tell that Lily was asleep because she felt Lily's chest rising and falling against her back. Kendra flushed a bit and closed her eyes.

_ Lily really **is** pretty... _Kendra thought to herself as a wave of sleep began to wash over her.

Chapter Two

Strange Goings On

That morning Kendra did her best to fit into Lily's school uniform, but the skirt fought like hell when she tried to fit it over her generous hips.

"...Hmm...Just don't bend over okay Kendra?" Kagome said blinking at Kendra as she came down stairs arguing with her clothes.  
"Good idea." Kendra replied as she joined Kagome, her mother, Lily, Souta, and Grandpa Higurashi for breakfast.

Hiroka looked Kendra up and down.

"That should do for today." she commented as she served Kendra some breakfast.

"Itada Kimasu, Mrs. Higurashi!" Kendra said as she began to eat.

"Oh my Kendra! You seem so cheerful! Are you feeling better then?" Mrs. Higurashi asked.

"Hmmm? Oh yes! I'm feeling much better thank you." Kendra replied.

Kagome looked over at Lily an eyebrow raised. Lily in turn responded the same way.  
Later that day during Home Ec., Lily and Kagome were stationed together and instructed to make omelets.  
"Kendra is a strange one..." Lily murmured as she passed Kagome the sugar.  
"Yeah...but for a girl dealing with what she deals with almost every night, she's pretty sweet and happy." Kagome returned taking the sugar and adding some to the egg batter.

Lily nodded some and flipped through a cook book idly.

"True...I have heard though that she really is a total moron," Lily replied wisely.

"She's a simpleton." added one of Kagome's friends.

"But that's what makes her good." Kagome protested flipping the half-done omelet over.

The girls just looked at each other and went back to their cooking stations.

Kendra who was standing nearby at her own cooking station with an acquaintance of hers sighed and returned to trying to scrape of the burned omelet residue off of her frying pan.

After the school day was over, Kendra rocketed home to change her clothes and go to the park. Her mother gave Kendra a tired smile and hugged her as she walked in through the door.  
"Hi Kendra dear. How was school?" she asked.

Kendra didn't want to tell her mother about what the girls in her cooking class had said so she smiled.

"It went great Momma...did...did Daddy come home last night?" Kendra braved.

Shira Branford smiled weakly at Kendra.

"No he didn't...he still hasn't come home...so...I wanted to ask if you would mind staying with the Higurashis again tonight." her mother answered.

Kendra looked frightened but nodded all the same.  
"But what about you?" Kendra asked concerned.  
"I'll be fine. Go get some clothes and things for another sleep over...I already talked to Hiroka about it and the girls would love to have you stay over." her mother said moving into the kitchen,

_ Oh I'm sure... _  
Kendra wasn't able to sleep that night.


End file.
